BrainChild Bio, a cell therapy developer making CAR-T treatments for children with rare brain cancers, has banked $116 million in a round of venture financing, the company announced Tuesday.

专注于为患有罕见脑癌的儿童开发CAR-T疗法的细胞疗法开发商BrainChild Bio于周二宣布，在一轮风险融资中筹集了1.16亿美元。

CAR-T therapies are powerful treatments engineered from immune cells. A handful have been approved to treat certain blood cancers, and many companies are studying their potential

CAR-T疗法是利用免疫细胞 engineered 的强大治疗手段。目前已有少数几种获批用于治疗某些血液癌症，许多公司正在研究其潜力。

on other tumors

关于其他肿瘤

and even

甚至

autoimmune diseases

自身免疫性疾病

.

。

But according to BrainChild founder and Chief Scientific Officer Michael Jensen, few companies have tried to test CAR-T treatments against brain cancer. “The prejudice is that the brain would be intolerant to having cells directly administered,” he said.

但据BrainChild创始人兼首席科学官迈克尔·詹森表示，很少有公司尝试测试CAR-T疗法对脑癌的治疗效果。“人们普遍认为，大脑无法耐受直接注入细胞。”他说。

BrainChild is different.

BrainChild 与众不同。

Spun out of research at Seattle Children’s Hospital

源自西雅图儿童医院的研究

three years ago, the company is working on a pair of brain cancer cell therapies designed specifically for children.

三年前，该公司正在研发一款专为儿童设计的脑癌细胞疗法。

Focusing on kids isn’t typical for up-and-coming biotech companies, as the sales opportunities in uncommon childhood cancers pale in comparison to the larger markets for many malignancies afflicting adults. Yet BrainChild has already made considerable progress. One treatment, called BCB-276, is in Phase 2 testing in a rare and deadly brain stem tumor called diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma.

专注于儿童患者并非新兴生物科技公司的主流策略，因为罕见儿童癌症的销售机会与许多影响成年人的恶性肿瘤所对应的更大市场相比相形见绌。然而，BrainChild 已经取得了显著进展。其中一种名为 BCB-276 的疗法正处于针对一种罕见且致命的脑干肿瘤——弥漫性内生性桥脑胶质瘤（DIPG）的二期临床试验阶段。

Another, BCB-214, is in preclinical development for glioblastoma and is poised to start human testing next year, according to CEO Steven Brugger. .

据首席执行官史蒂文·布鲁格（Steven Brugger）表示，另一款候选药物BCB-214正处于针对胶质母细胞瘤的临床前开发阶段，并准备于明年启动人体试验。

“Financing pediatric programs is and has always been more challenging,” Brugger said. “While I understand the business we're in, it is still so very disappointing to me and [Jensen], and especially for these patients and their families.”

“为儿科项目筹集资金一直都比较困难，”布鲁格表示。“虽然我理解我们所处的行业性质，但这仍然让我和[詹森]感到非常失望，对这些患者及其家人来说更是如此。”

Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, or DIPG, affects an estimated 300 children in the U.S. each year, according to the

弥漫性内生性脑桥胶质瘤（DIPG）据估计每年影响美国300名儿童，根据

National Cancer Institute

美国国家癌症研究所

. Those tumors are usually treated with radiation, chemotherapy, and in some cases a surgical procedure that funnels fluid away from the brain. But most afflicted children die within two years of their diagnosis.

这些肿瘤通常采用放疗、化疗以及在某些情况下通过手术将脑内积液引流的方式进行治疗。但大多数患病儿童在确诊后两年内死亡。

BCB-276 targets a protein called B7-H3 that’s overexpressed on a wide range of tumors, among them DIPG. Notably, recipients don’t have to get a chemotherapy conditioning regimen prior to treatment, as is usually the case with CAR-T therapies. That distinction enables BrainChild to envision administering multiple doses of its treatment.

BCB-276 靶向一种名为 B7-H3 的蛋白，该蛋白在包括弥漫性内生性脑桥胶质瘤（DIPG）在内的多种肿瘤中过表达。值得注意的是，接受该治疗的患者无需像常规 CAR-T 疗法那样预先接受化疗预处理方案。这一区别使 BrainChild 公司能够规划对其疗法进行多剂量给药。

It also helps keep the re-engineered cells in the brain, which could lower the risk of systemic side effects — such as a hyperactive immune response called cytokine release syndrome..

它还有助于将经过重新改造的细胞保留在大脑中，从而降低全身性副作用的风险，例如一种称为细胞因子释放综合征的过度活跃免疫反应。

“The blood-brain barrier is our ally,” Jensen said.

“血脑屏障是我们的盟友。”詹森说。

The ongoing Phase 2 study has a

正在进行的2期研究有一个

primary completion date

主要完成日期

in 2028, according to a federal database.

根据联邦数据库，在2028年。

Behind BCB-276 is an experimental treatment called BCB-214. That treatment is designed to go after B7-H3 as well as two other targets overexpressed in glioblastoma, one of the most common and fatal forms of brain cancer. Jensen said the treatment has certain components that help the souped-up cells function in an “immunosuppressive” environment in and around glioblastomas. .

在BCB-276的背后，是一项名为BCB-214的实验性疗法。该疗法旨在靶向B7-H3以及在胶质母细胞瘤中过表达的另外两个靶点；胶质母细胞瘤是最常见且最致命的脑癌类型之一。Jensen表示，该疗法包含某些成分，有助于增强型细胞在胶质母细胞瘤内部及周围的“免疫抑制”环境中发挥功能。

Investors in BrainChild’s Series A round include Seattle Children’s and the venture arm of the Washington Research Foundation. An unnamed “private family fund and foundation” led the financing.

BrainChild A轮融资的投资者包括西雅图儿童医院和华盛顿研究基金会的风险投资部门。一家未具名的“私人家族基金和基金会”领投了本轮融资。